Confused People Don't Say YES?

Want to know if what you're saying is getting through to people?

Just watch their eyebrows.?

If their eyebrows go up, that's good news as it means they're intrigued.?

If their eyebrows crunch up, that's bad news because it means they're confused.

And Confused People Don't Say YES.?

Here's how I got crystal-clear about this.

I was the Executive Director and Emcee of the Maui Writers Conference - which Writers Digest called the "best writers conference in the world" - for 17 years.

We did something unprecedented at the time. We gave authors an opportunity to jump the chain of command and meet face-to-face with publishing decision-makers. Imagine pitching your project to a top agent, editor, or Hollywood producer/director like Ron Howard.

Our first year, a woman walked out of her?pitch meeting with tears in her eyes. I walked over and asked, "Are you okay?"

She told me, “'No, I’m not okay. I just saw my dream go down the drain."

"What happened?"

"I put?my manuscript?on the table,?the agent?looked at it and said, ‘I don’t have time to read all that. Tell me in 60 seconds what it's about and why someone would want to read it.’

My mind went blank. I've been working on this for 3 years. It's so complicated, there's no way I can explain it in 60 seconds. My big chance, and I blew it.”

That's when I realized the goal of an intro isn't to explain what we do, it's to get people intrigued in what we do.

She wasn't the only one who got a NO that first year.

And it wasn't that their projects weren't worthy, it's because they weren't ready.

That night, I asked Robert Loomis, a senior editor at Random House, "What's happening?"

"Sam, most of us have seen thousands of proposals. We make up our mind in the first 60 seconds whether something's commercially viable."

The next day, I stood in the back of the room and watched the pitch meetings. And I could predict who was getting interest simply by watching the decision-maker's?eyebrows.

If their eyebrows were knit or furrowed; it meant they didn't get it. Which meant the author wasn't getting through and they weren't going to get a deal.

If their eyebrows didn’t move; it meant?they?were unmoved. Or, they'd?had Botox (smile.)

If their eyebrows went UP; it meant the author had passed THE EYEBROW TEST.

Try it right now.

LIFT your eyebrows. Do you feel curious, engaged??

You just got what you care about in their mental door and now they want to know more.

That's how you want?people to feel - to care about what you care about.

The EYEBROW TEST is a tangible way to test how intriguing you are.

And it works whether you're interviewing for a job, giving a presentation, raising money, explaining your idea or project, or introducing yourself at a meeting.

Want two examples of The Eyebrow Test that show how to turn confusion into clarity and INFObesity into intrigue? Check out this TEDx talk which has more than half a million views.